Better relationships shut the wandering eye: Sociosexual orientation mediates the association between relationship quality and infidelity intentions. (April 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Urganci, Betul; Sevi, Barış; Sakman, Ezgi
• Is Part Of: Journal of social and personal relationships. Volume 38:Number 4(2021)
• Page Start: 1401
• Page End: 1409
• Publication Date: 2021-04
• Subjects: Exclusive relationships -- infidelity -- relationship quality -- romantic relationship -- sociosexuality; Interpersonal relations -- Periodicals; Social interaction -- Periodicals; 302.05
• DOI: 10.1177/0265407521995261
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0265-4075

Abstract

People who lack quality relationships are more likely to engage in infidelity but how relationship quality is associated with infidelity is less clear. One psychological mechanism that might help to explain these associations is sociosexuality. Here, we tested two models in which we assessed whether overall sociosexuality and sociosexuality subscales (i.e., attitude, behavior, desire) explain how relationship quality is related to infidelity intentions by sampling individuals in exclusive relationships ( N = 219). We found that individuals with lower relationship quality had more unrestricted sexual orientation, which in turn predicted a greater intention toward infidelity. In addition, lower quality relationships were associated with greater intentions toward infidelity through behavior and desire, but not attitude dimensions of sociosexuality.